Finding Aid for the Weltausstellung in Wien 1873
Shilpa Rele.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Weltausstellung in Wien 1873
Date (inclusive): 1873
Number: 2002.R.13
Physical Description:
16 photographs
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Sixteen photographs document exhibition
buildings and exhibits of the 1873 Vienna International Exhibition. The photgraphs are
credited variously to György Klösz, Oscar Kramer, and Josef Löwy.
Language: Collection material is in German,
English, and French.
Biographical/Historical Note
The photographs in the collection are by György Klösz, Oscar Kramer, and Josef Löwy. These
men were three of the six members of the Viennese Photographers Association which held the
photographic concession for the 1873 Vienna International Exhibition.
György Klösz (Johann Georg Justus Kloess, 1844-1913) was born in Darmstadt, Germany. After
studying pharmacy, chemistry, and photography he moved to Vienna and worked in the
photography studio of Hermann Heid. He took over the Budapest operations of Heid and his
partner, Ferdinand Ronninger, in 1867. In the 1870s, he was one of the first Hungarian
photographers to take photographs of the city of Budapest and other outdoor locations. While
he continued to be a prolific photographer, Klösz also branched out to other businesses. In
1879, he set up a lithographic printing press and started to produce reproductions. Between
1890 and 1894, he was co-owner of
Budapest Visitors'
Magazine.
Klösz taught his son Pal photography and in 1903 made him co-owner of
his business.
Josef Löwy (1834 Pressburg (Bratislava), Slovakia-1902 Vienna, Austria) was a painter,
publisher, and photographer. In 1848, Löwy moved to Vienna, where he first learned
lithography and then studied painting at the Vienna Academy. He opened his first photography
studio in Vienna in 1856, specializing in portraits, nudes, and landscapes. In 1861, he
joined the Viennese Photographischen Gesellschaft, and in 1864 he participated in Vienna's
first photographic exhibition. Löwy was one of the early users of the collodion process in
Vienna, and in 1885, he founded an unsuccessful dry plate production business with Josef
Plener. After his death Löwy's company was continued by his widow, Mathilde Löwy, until her
death in 1908, at which time their nephew, Gustav Löwy, took it over, operating it under the
name Kunstanstalt J. Löwy.
Oscar Kramer (1834-1892, Vienna) was a photographer; a dealer in photographic supplies,
photographs, and art; and a publisher of photographs. He lived and studied in Berlin as a
child, but returned to Vienna in the mid-1850s where he opened a photographic supply
business in 1856. Kramer became a member of the Vienna Photographische Gesellschaft in 1861,
and along with Ludwig Schrank, founded
Photographische
Correspondenz
magazine in 1864, which in short order became the mouthpiece for the
Photographische Gesellschaft. In 1873, Kramer became the co-founder and commercial director
of the Vienna Photographers Association. The organization was responsible for taking over
2,200 photographs of the 1873 Vienna International Exhibition, but was dissolved the
following year due to financial difficulties.
Sources consulted:
Durstmüller. "Löwy Josef, Photograf," in:
Österreichisches
Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950
, vol. 5. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1972.
Hannavy, John.
Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century
Photography
. New York, London: Routledge, 2013.
Mahler Foundation. "Josef Lowy (1834-1902)."
https://mahlerfoundation.org/mahler/contemporaries/josef-lowy/
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Weltausstellung in Wien, 1873. Research Library, The Getty Research Insititute, Accession
no. 2002.R.13
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2002r13
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 2002.
Processing History
Shilpa Rele processed the collection and wrote the finding aid in 2008. Beth Ann Guynn
updated the finding aid in 2020.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection comprises 16 interior and exterior views of the Vienna International
Exposition of 1873 taken by György Klösz (8), Oscar Kramer (4), and Josef Löwy (2). The
photographers for two of the images have not been identified. Included are a view of the
Industry Palace from the west and a view of its south gate; views of the Monaco, Kaiser,
Swedish Hunt, and Russian Kaiser pavilions; and a view of the east gate of the Art Hall.
Three photographs show sculptures by Italian artists.
Fourteen mounts bear a letterpress crest above the image with text: Viribus Unitis. The
photographs are numbered and captioned in the negative in German. All but two mounts are
printed with the name of the exposition in German, French, and English below the image,
along with the credit: Photographie und Verlag der concessionirten Wiener
Photographen-Association. Image titles are taken from the negative.
Arrangement note
Arranged by the processer.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Löwy, J. (Joseph),
1835-1902
Kramer, Oscar
Subjects - Corporate Bodies
Vienna International Exhibition (Date of
meeting or treaty signing: (1873).)
Subjects - Topics
Exhibition buildings -- Austria -- Vienna
Sculpture -- Italy -- 19th century
Subjects - Places
Vienna (Austria) -- Description
Genres and Forms of Material
Albumen prints -- Austia -- 19th century
Contributors
Kramer,
Oscar
Klösz, György
Löwy, J.
(Joseph), 1835-1902
box 1, item 1
Löwy, Josef, [View of the Main Facade of the Palace of Industry Taken from the
West]
Scope and Content Note
Photographer's signature in bottom right corner of photograph: J. Löwy.
box 1, item 2
Löwy, Josef, Industriepalast: Südportal
Scope and Content Note
Nr. 109. Photographer's signature in bottom right corner of photograph: J. Löwy.
box 1, item 3
Kramer, Oscar, Russisches Bauernhaus
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 1354. Kramer.
box 1, item 4
Kramer, Oscar, Restauration im russischen Styl
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 173. Kramer.
box 1, item 5
Photographer unidentified, Im deutschen Hofe
Scope and Content Note
Numbered in negative: Nr. 572.
box 1, item 6
Löwy, Josef, Pavillion der französischen Commission
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 854. J. Löwy.
box 1, item 7
Löwy, Josef, Monaco-Pavillion
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 811. J. Löwy.
box 1, item 8
Löwy, Josef, Deutscher Fürsten-Pavillon
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 445. J. Löwy.
box 1, item 9
Kramer, Oscar, Kaiser-Pavillon
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 720. Kramer.
box 1, item 10
Kramer, Oscar, Schwedischer Jagdpavillon
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 734. Kramer.
box 1, item 11
Klösz, György, Ruissischer Kaiserpavillon
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 921. Klösz.
box 1, item 12
Klösz, György, Ostportal der Kunsthalle
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 290. Klösz.
box 1, item 13
Photographer unidentified, [Interior of an Exhibition Hall]
Scope and Content Note
Numbered in negative: Nr. 151.
box 1, item 14
Klösz, György, Der Schnitter von B. Philipotis
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 1565. Klösz. Photographer's signature in bottom
left corner of photograph: Klösz.
box 1, item 15
Klösz, György, Tasso als Kind, Sk. V. L. Torelli. Florencz
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 1565. Klösz. Photographer's signature in bottom
left corner of photograph: Klösz.
box 1, item 16
Klösz, György, Die Nacht, v. Leop. Ansiglioni. Rom
Scope and Content Note
Numbered and signed in negative: Nr. 1000. Klösz. Photographer's signature in bottom
left corner of photograph: Klösz.
